Chlorine & pump schedule

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D

deepdeepblue

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May 28, 2013
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I'm looking for people's thoughts on how to schedule chlorine testing & addition, in relation to the daily pump schedule. Last year I used chlorine tablets, but this year I will be following the BBB method and adding liquid chlorine on a daily basis, as necessary.

I generally plan to run the pump about 8 hours per day (though I may fiddle around with the duration this year), during the day when the sun is hitting the pool. This means that when I return home in the evening (6pm or later), the pump will be off, however this will also be the time that I plan to check chlorine levels and add chlorine as necessary. It seems inconvenient to turn on the pump for another half-hour just for the purpose of adding chlorine.

What are other people's pump schedules in relation to chlorine testing?

I'm also thinking about getting a Liquidator so I don't have to worry about this :) (Only thing holding me back is that I live in Canada and would need to import it from the US)

Thanks in advance!
 
Welcome to TFP!

I run the pump in the early evening and very late at night. That way it is on when we tend to be out hanging around the pool. The combination of hanging out by the pretty water :) and testing works well for us.
 
I'd also like opinions on how long to run the pump daily. I've been running it 12 hours, and even when I have my chlorine dispenser (Nature2) set to "1" the chlorine levels are still quite high. I'm presuming (perhaps inaccurately) that if I run the pump less, less chlorine will be introduced. So, maybe cut it down to 8 hours?
 
eball said:
I'd also like opinions on how long to run the pump daily.
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The Pool School article, Determine Pump Run Time was recently revised. It's worth another look. It may take some experimentation to see what works well for your pool.

For the record, when I switched to BBB, I found that I was able to reduce my pump run time significantly. This year, I am fine-tuning it a bit more. I am running the pump whenever I add any chemicals to the pool and then for about 30 minutes after the last addition for a total run time averaging about 40-60 minutes a day during the swim season. When I vacuum, the pump is run for as long as necessary until the pool is clean. I happened to vacuum tonight and ran the pump for about 90 min. So far, there has been no change in my pool water clarity with these tweaks. But, keep in mind two things: (1) I manually dose with liquid bleach as the chlorine source, so I do not use the feeder unless I am on vacation, and (2) I have a single-speed pump that runs at 3,450 RPM whenever it is on. Last year when I went on vacation, I used the feeder with trichlor pucks and ran the pump for 4 hours starting after sunset. I also put a couple of floaters in the pool so that it was getting some chlorine during the day. Came home to a crystal clear pool and resumed using bleach.

Of course, I make pump run time allowances for such events as pool parties and unusually high bather loads. But those are the exceptions to the rule, so to speak.
 
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